Naked Lunch

Rating:
Summary: Take the Adventure!
Review: No, this book isn't for everyone. Yet I would recommend it to everyone simply on the grounds that it is such a piece of groundbreaking literature. It is a book like no other. If you think you've read it all before, then read this.

Granted, I'm a huge William Burroughs fan. He has inspired a lot of my own writings and showed me that sometimes no structure is the best structure. Let the reader make what they will of your writings. That giving the reader their own opportunity to explore your creations rather than map it all out for them is an experience unto itself. And whether or not they love it in the end is not the big prize. Having given them the experience is.

Naked Lunch took me quite a while to read. The first Burroughs book I read was Junky, another tale of drug addiction filled with Burroughs' own brand of slick humor. However it was completely straightforward. Naked Lunch is, by all means, as twisted and turned as literature can get.

Once you get past page 3 of the proceedings, just enjoy the ride. You may feel the need to go back and reread what you just read, but don't. There is no point in doing that, because the "meaning" of this novel comes and goes. It loses itself within stories within stories within stories. To sit here and try to explain what Naked Lunch is all about is futile. It's like trying to find a word that rhymes with orange. It just can't be done. Hence, each reader will have his or her own experience with this book.

There are plenty of horrific and grotesque images in this work, yet they are vivid and wonderful in their own ways. Burroughs' mastery of language and especially the beat style and rhythm is awe inspiring. The words flow by breathlessly, no matter what they are conveying. Reading this book is like no other experience I've ever had. It is scary, funny, sad, hip, and cool. I'd also like to thank the other Amazon reviewer for recommending THE LOSERS' CLUB by Richard Perez -- as a "failing and flailing writer" myself, this book is a great comfort to me.

Rating:
Summary: TOTALLY AWESOME
Review: I really enjoyed this book more than THE SOfT MACHINE... It is very funny in a insane kind of way. His style of writing should be used by more authors. I am convinced it is one of the best out there.

Rating:
Summary: Self-indulgent
Review: I enjoy reading literature, and am rarely disappointed when I read a book that has been labeled a classic. "Naked Lunch" is an exception. I had to force myself to finish this book, because it just did not really hold my interest at all. Although I could appreciate the dark, twisted, imaginative imagery, there was just no real story to speak of. There were hints of satire here and there, but then the prose would just descend into an incoherent mess. I can only recommend this book as a cautionary tale about the nightmarish, horrifying, delusional state that being a heroin junkie must put you in.

For a more clear and coherent surreal pornographic nightmare, I'd recommend "Story of the Eye" ...

Rating:
Summary: Try It At least Once!
Review: Naked Lunch is the ultimate cut-up/quote bible/scrapbook of what it was like to be alive and a free-thinker in the Fifties. As well, the horrors of the "oil-burning junk habit" and the worlds in which the visionary dwells, are covered in great detail. There is somewhat of a back-story, dealing with a kind of Rodgers-and-Hammerstein-meets-HR-Giger-meet-sthe X Files cabal of aliens and other species infiltrating the human race. Burroughs sees himself as a catch-as-catch-can reporter on all this, "like an agent who has forgotten his own cover story [but] all agents defect and all resisters sell out." This book is one wild ride, and should be read as a poetic scrapbook. Definitely worth you time. Give it a shot! Other recents books I liked: [e-mail] by Tom Grimes, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez

Rating:
Summary: Reconsideration
Review: I reviewed this book some years ago (1997, I think) as a sophmore in high school - a time when one is easily swayed by such junk. Apparently, I really enjoyed this book; I gave it a five-star rating and a glowing review. But, again, I was only a sophmore and was somewhat taken by the whole notion of the "Beat Generation." I have moved pretty far beyond such drivel: a grad student, Joycean, Nabokophile, and fabulist.
The point is is that I reconsidered this text. For a laugh, I reread Naked Lunch and my review of it. My review was laughable because of my age and conceptions of worthy literature. And Naked Lunch was just as funny because of its overwhelming and glaring badness and lack of anything redeemable. And I think you (the potential buyer) needs to also reconsider your purchase. Naked Lunch is awful: since when have the intoxicated ramblings of a junkie ever been considered literature? And the whole story of it being a social document or a personal expose is pretty shaky ground. Literature is a carefully wrought expression of desire, pain, joy, etc. As Arnold Schoenberg so eloquently said: "Art is the cry of despair of those who experience in themselves the fate of all mankind." The implied statement Mr. Schoenberg would like to add for your clarification is: "Art does not have room for gentlemen like Mr. Burroughs because the weight of the world is lightened when you have a needle hanging from your arm and your find your foot facsinating."

Rating:
Summary: Nightmares from junky limbo............
Review: Ever want to understand what its like to live in your most depraved state? Well William Burroughs hit the hammer on the head for me. This book is like a nightmare ranging from subtle shout outs from the sub-concious to full on mass orgies of blood and murder.

Although sometimes hard to understand i think the book shouldn't be taken litteraly. Its more like trying to understand a dream or (no offense) reading the Bible.

Rating:
Summary: Elegant and well-crafted, but mysterious
Review: "Naked Lunch" is a challenge to read that rewards careful preparation. I got out some sliced turkey, a loaf of bread, and a glass of milk. It was about noon. Then I stripped off my clothes and sat down at the table and started to read. This set the mood, and I found that I understood the points the author was making much better this way. It was a little embarrassing when the magazine salesman came by, but he seemed to understand.

Rating:
Summary: Elegant and well-crafted, but mysterious
Review: "Naked Lunch" is a challenge to read that rewards careful preparation. I got out some sliced turkey, a loaf of bread, and a glass of milk. It was about noon. Then I stripped off my clothes and sat down at the table and started to read. This set the mood, and I found that I understood the points the author was making much better this way. It was a little embarrassing when the magazine salesman came by, but he seemed to understand.

Rating:
Summary: not your high school cafeteria
Review: this book is not for everybody. it is a series of visionary vignettes that have a similar theme and are placed in a somewhat haphazard order. the theme is one of addiction of all types and the visions are indescribable. some chapters are better than others. an understanding of drug lexicon is very helpful. some of the concepts are intriguing. my favorite is "bureaucracy is the cancer of democracy".

most readers will find parts of "naked lunch" tasty, parts will cause indigestion, and parts will be unchewable and indigestible. for those readers that can handle that---dig in!

Rating:
Summary: Trippy to the MAX!
Review: I was referred to this book after reading The Losers' Club by Richard Perez, and while that novel was full of crazy and bizarre people, nothing prepared me for what was in Naked Lunch!
I'll be honest, I was totally lost throughout most of the book until I came to the end and finally had a chance to think about it all. This truly the most bizarre and "far out" book I have ever read. And here's the catch: I liked it. In the end, I really liked it!!